"The penalty means Ohio State automatically is out of the running for any bowl, or a Big Ten or national championship next year, just as newly appointed head coach Urban Meyer is wooing recruits to the Buckeyes."

As NPR's Tom Goldman reported back in June, former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel stepped down "after he failed to report NCAA violations. Star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and several other key players [were] suspended for several games ... for selling memorabilia." And the NCAA was "investigating how Pryor got the multiple cars he's been driving at the university."